1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and means for warming to a predetermined temperature, a wet dressing pack and other medicaments of the type used by health care providers and specifically to a device for warming and maintaining the wet dressing pack at a temperature below that which might cause discomfort or injury to the skin of a patient.
2. Prior Art
Conventional means for heating wet dressing packs employ a timed heat lamp which heat the dressings by radiation for a selected period of time. However, such devices provide no means for detecting and/or controlling the temperature of the wet dressing packs. Consequently, the longer the wet dressing packs are left under the exposure of the heat lamp, the hotter they become, sometimes resulting in the production of steam within the dressing packs. This presents the danger of over-heated dressing packs burning the skin of patients, especially if comatose or sedated.
Further, each time a wet dressing pack is required, the pack is placed under the heat lamp for a certain period of time until the pack reaches an unknown elevated temperature. As soon as the heat lamp is turned off, the wet dressing pack immediately begins to cool down to room temperature. Additionally, if a second wet dressing pack is required and it is placed under the same heat lamp, which was still warm, the time required to heat the second wet dressing pack would be less than that required if the lamp had been cooled to room temperature. Under such conditions, heating a wet dressing pack to a desired temperature by conventional devices is done on a strictly hit or miss trial and error basis.
Other substitute methods such as using hot water, heating pads, chemical hot packs and other devices not originally intended for the purposes of heating wet dressings have also been employed in an attempt to solve the problem in the art with results which were even more unacceptable than those produced from the use of a heat lamp.